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Monday, January 25, 2016

Peak Productivity (Part Three)

This is the third installment of Peak Productivity. The first
and second
parts are already posted.

Increase Your Productivity

I’ve talked about ways to avoid productivity killers, but
there are some tricks to increasing your word count during a scheduled meeting. These are broken down into external and internal motivations. These can be used
in combination with each other.

I’ll say this up front, though. Some of these work for most
people. Some don’t. Give them a try. If you find something here that doesn’t
help you out, then either adjust it until it does work, or you can walk away
from the suggestion. It won’t hurt my feelings if the techniques that kick my
brain into high gear don't work for your brain.

External Motivations

Find the#1k1hr Twitter hashtag and
participate! Wait. I thought I told you to turn off the Internet and Twitter?
Well, the #1k1hr hashtag on Twitter is a challenge you share with other writers
during the same hour. The goal is to write 1,000 words from the top of an hour
to the top of the next hour. Guess what? This means you fire up the Internet
and hit Twitter just before the top of the hour and join in the fun with a
tweet. Then you kill the Internet and close the Twitter tab in your browser.
Just before the hour is up, get back online and prepare to compare word counts
with your fellow writers.

Find a “support group.” This can come in the form of a
critique group, beta readers, or writing partner. They are your initial
audience for your writing. They expect submissions from you. They wantyour words. If you haven’t written anything by
the time the next meeting (or scheduled email) date rolls around, they’ll be
disappointed. Don’t do that to them! This kind of motivation can help you churn
out the words.

Similar to #1k1hr on Twitter, you can sometimes find a “word
war” going on at Facebook with your fellow writers. Perhaps you challenge
someone to a word war. Sometimes you put out the fact that you want to be
challenged. The idea behind this is to set a time limit (usually 15 minutes, 30
minutes, or an hour) and see who can crank out the most words during this time
period. It’s actually great fun to cheer on someone else's word count at the
end, and you get cheered on as well.

Write-ins are great fun, but only if done right. A proper
write-in will start at a certain time, and the first 10-15 minutes are for
socializing. This allows everyone to get set up, get the chatting out of his or
her system, and then it’s down to business. The rest of the time is spent
hammering the keyboard, except the last 10 minutes when everyone compares word
counts. The energy (even when the only sound is the "skritch" of pen on paper or
the clattering of keys) in the room is palpable. It’s a great time. Another
thing I’ve sometimes seen at write-ins is that everyone brings a book they no
longer want. The person with the highest word count production at the end of
the write-in gets to take all the books home. I recommend bringing books on the
craft/business of writing as rewards, but any kind of book is cool. There seem
to be more write-ins during November and NaNoWriMo than other times of the
year, but they do happen year-round.

Internal Motivations

How do you get into the right headspace to write? How do you
stay there? What triggers those mysterious Alpha Waves in your brain that drive
your creativity?

Write to music. Some people can do this. Some people can’t.
Perhaps you think you can’t, but maybe you haven’t found the right music yet.
Some writers make a playlist for their story and put it on repeat. This helps
keep them in the mood and tone they need to be in to execute their story.

Personally, I find the music that fits the current scene
type that I’m writing. If I’m writing a fight scene (I do lots of those), then
I put on some heavy metal. If I’m writing dialogue, I put on more lyrical and
melodic tunes. If I’m writing narrative or description, I put on music without
lyrics.

As I’ve mentioned above, you can reward yourself for
accomplishing certain goals. Set a reward at certain word count markers. Set
a bigreward
for typing “the end” on a story. You’ve earnedthe reward! Make sure you claim it. Just make
sure it’s appropriate for the level of accomplishment reached. On one of her
episodes ofI Should Be Writing,Mur Laffertysaid she rewards herself with an hour of
Skyrim on the XBox for every two hours she writes.

Editor's Note: The fourth and final presentation of Peak Productivity will be on February 8th.

About the Author:J.T. Evans writes fantasy novels. He also dabbles with science fiction and horror short stories. He is the president of Pikes Peak Writers. When not writing, he keeps computers secure at the Day Job, homebrews great beers, spends time with his family, and plays way too many card/board/role-playing games.

Pikes Peak Writers

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